


Baby Talking Tattletail

by orphan_account



Category: Tattletail (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, closeted agender protagonist because idfk, i dont know if twelve is a typical age to already be sure of something like that but who cares, protagonist is unnecessarily mindful of tattletail pronouns but then it's entirely necessary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-11-20 14:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11337075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A kid opens a present early. Bad things happen.





	1. Not That Patient

**Author's Note:**

> So, I decided to do a thing. Tattletail with an aged up protagonist, an extended epilogue, and several minor changes. Let's see how this goes. Let me know if you find any grammatical or spelling errors, because I proofread these chapters for approximately one second and then throw them out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I changed some things up a little. Tattletail doesn't like Val because spoilers, so he's not going to listen to them right away, among other minor changes.
> 
> EDITS 2-GOD KNOWS WHAT: Changed a whole bunch of little things and added troubling implications.

I woke up at midnight, feeling a little... nosy. Impatient. What could I say? It was only natural. I was never the patient type, and just checking out my present ahead of time couldn't hurt. I'd put it back in its box and never speak of it again until Christmas. I knew what it was ahead of time, because Mom didn't surprise me. It would only result in disappointment. I flailed my limbs for a moment to get the covers off and sat up, then glanced at a few framed pictures of my sister, Angel, and I when we were younger. The glass was all scratched up, and you could see that if the light shined on it just right. We looked different. Like, really different.

Her skin was just a little darker than mine, even though I used to play soccer all the time and she sat inside and played with toy dinosaurs like they were dolls. I had blond hair and she had brown, and while her eyes were a dark brown, almost black, mine were a weird shade of blue that looked purple when the light shined on them a certain way. We both looked a lot more babyish in that picture, because I think we were six or seven when it was taken, but other than that, not much changed since the picture except for Angel growing her hair out right before her accident. I paused to turn the light on and evaluate the current state of my room, not that I'd do anything about it in the near future.

The carpet had letters and jungle animals on it, mostly obscured by the books all over the floor and the two plain, forest green rugs that were always getting kicked around for whatever reason, while the walls and the ceiling had space patterns on them. The rugs were actually in place for once, although they were looking a little wrinkly, and they'd probably end up in the corner again tomorrow. There was a ceiling fan in the center of the room, with some cute sun and moon strings for the lights and the fan respectively. There was also some random stuff scattered around, along with the aforementioned pictures. Some books I'd actually bothered to put in a reasonable place instead of just slinging them every which way. A couple potted plants Mom decided to use as a ridiculous test to see if I was ready for my own pet. A random plate in the corner. And the VHS player, can't forget that. I used to have some posters, but they all looked kind of weird and dumb (like my carpet), so I took them down. My bed was intended for two people, but had just been a really big bed for one person for a few years now.

With that intense staring session out of the way, I crept out of my room and down the hallway, leaving the light on like an idiot. There were paintings all over the house, especially in the hallway, and my room was the only one that didn't have at least one. Mom probably wouldn't wake up if I decided to have a party with all my friends, but it never hurt to be careful... Weird. The lights were on in the basement for some reason. I probably would have turned them on by myself, considering the fact that the presents were down there, but it was still pretty strange. I walked down into the basement, passing various assorted junk. Things like an old rocking chair, a weird thing on a tripod, a section of a picket fence, you name it. There were also dust motes floating _everywhere._ I passed a treadmill with some weights on it and came to a table with some presents behind it and a stocking next to it.

I grabbed a white present with red spots on it and pulled the top off. The ribbon was painted on, and there wasn't anything holding the lid in place, so it would be easy for anyone to just knock it off. There was a loop of tape holding the bow and the tag on, but that was about it. Speaking of the tag... _To Valentine, From Mom._ Of course she's going to use my full name. Valentine. Because Valentine is a sensible name for a kid that totally won't get them bullied at school. Spoiler Alert: It isn't.

My mistake of a name aside, I took the Tattletail box out of its fancy present and looked at it for a moment. The purple-furred toy was visible in all its egg-shaped glory through some plastic on the front of the box. It had a cream-colored belly, face, and feet, and a pinkish red, heart-shaped nose, as well as perky ears and striped leg warmers. It was just staring straight ahead with those blue eyes and that open mouth that I thought was supposed to be a smile. It wasn't like it could do anything else, because it didn't have any batteries in it.

Then, I opened the box. I got the manual out before the actual Tattletail, just to know what I was dealing with, and read the little leaflet. Apparently, this thing ate real food, but the company, Waygetter, also made specialized Tattle Treats for it to eat. A few were included with a Tattletail, and more could be bought when you ran out. There was a charging station and rechargeable Tattletail batteries sold separately, as well as a Tattletail brush, but any old brush or even long nails could be used, which pretty much rendered the brush pointless. It giggled to let you know that it was satisfied. The manual mentioned something about gift eggs, too, but apparently, that was a surprise. After I was done reading all that, I folded up the leaflet, put it back in the box, and pulled out the Tattletail, only for it to start talking in a singsong voice. "You're in _big_ trouble..." I just stared at it. What kind of voice line for a children's toy was _that?_ Did it somehow know it was being peeked at early?

"You don't have any batteries in yet..."

"Happy birthday!" I shook it a little. It had that specific kind of lightness of a toy that hasn't had any batteries shoved up its butt/chest/whatever. And yet it was talking. I gave a long sigh and decided to go with it. Maybe I was mistaken. Maybe this thing was just light. "Give me a treat! Give me a treat! Give me a treat!" And so on. There was something else in the box. A pack of ten Tattle Treats, rectangular, multicolored hard candies with the Waygetter logo on them. The Tattletail wasn't held down, so it would be easy to just put it away when I was done, but someone would notice if I tore the plastic bag open.

"Okay, I'll get you a treat. Stay here and stay quiet." I figured it wouldn't listen, but I told it to be quiet anyway. As expected, it ignored me. I walked back up to the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing a few strawberries before returning to the basement. I noticed one of the gift eggs the manual mentioned next to the Tattletail.

I held a strawberry up to it, upon which it leaned forward a little and happily gobbled it down. "More! More!" It finished half of another one before getting full, if the giggle and sudden complete unresponsiveness to the food were any indication. I shrugged and ate the remaining strawberry and a half. It wasn't like Tattletails had mouth germs. I turned my attention back to the egg. It was yellow, with a red ribbon tied around it. "Present for you!" I picked it up. It was just one of those plastic Easter eggs. I popped it open and was greeted with the sight of it being completely stuffed with chewed-up dog food. I cringed and just dumped that out before closing the egg again. "Hee hee hee hee hee! Brush me!" It then proceeded to start repeating "Brush me!" in an identical fashion to the previous "Give me a treat!" line.

"Okay, can you _please_ be a little more quiet?" I hissed. "You're gonna get me in trouble, and then I won't be able to play with you." It completely ignored me. I didn't know why I was even talking to the stupid thing. I groaned and brushed the tuft of fur on top of its head with my "gross monster claws," as my sister used to call them, until it let out a short giggle and then yawned.

"Me tired!" I put it back in the box. "Back to bed!" It immediately closed its eyes and let out a high-pitched snore. I closed the box, put it back in the present, and left it there. Then, I almost peed my pants when the lights went out with a jarring noise upon putting my foot on the first step on the staircase leading out of the basement.

...It was nothing.  Just the power being weird.

I could've sworn I heard a Tattletail giggle when I got out of the basement. The phone rang. I decided not to answer it, and continued on my way back to my room. I noticed that the front door was open... Weird. I grabbed a blue gift egg I noticed just outside the front door, which was open for some reason. Upon opening it, a wad of hair fell out and rolled out the door like a tiny tumbleweed. That explained why it was so light compared to the other one. After that, I shut the door. I noticed another gift egg on my nightstand, this one purple, with the sock I'd been looking for all day stuffed into it, which was a nice surprise. With that, I stashed the three eggs in a plastic box under my bed, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.


	2. Strange Happenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Val awakens to a strange clunking noise and decides to investigate.

I sat up in my bed. What the heck was _that?_ Some kind of clunking noise downstairs... I crawled out of the blanket cocoon that had formed around me at some point in the night and got out of bed, currently too tired to question why the light was on in the kitchen. I _did_ know that it was hurting my eyes, so I turned it off and continued on my way to the basement. A few lights were on in there, too.  The washing machine was visibly vibrating, even though my mom would never use it at this hour of the night. There was also a blue gift egg on the floor, along with a sponge. I snatched the egg, not wanting to have to explain why there were Easter eggs all over the house, and popped it open, just out of curiosity.

What seemed like every bit of loose change in the house fell to the floor with a jarring sound rivaling what sounded like a huge rock tumbling around in the dryer. Whether I left that on the floor or put it in with the rest of my savings, that would also be hard to explain. I scooped the coins back into the egg the best I could and closed it, then put it back where I found it. With that out of the way, I peeked inside the washer-dryer combo thingy... I forgot what those were actually called. But besides that,  _dear lord_ _._ I eyeballed the controls for a moment, quickly turning the thing off and pulling a hysterically giggling Tattletail out of the drying cycle. "What the heck!?"

It moved its mouth without actually saying anything for a moment. I almost thought it was broken, but then it returned to normal. "Me dizzy... Heeheeheeheehee!" Then, it started singing. "La-da-da-da-dee-don-duuun! La-la-la-la-la-laaa!" You get the idea. Its voice started getting distorted, too. From what I'd read in the manual the previous night, that meant that it needed to be recharged. It was at that moment that I noticed the charging stand on the end table next to the old armchair in the middle of the basement. It was circular and mostly purple, with a raised section in light blue on the front that had the Tattletail logo on it, and a tiny Waygetter logo under that. In a way, it looked just a little bit like a pet food dish. The inside was white, with two yellow footprints that fit the shape of a Tattletail's feet exactly. "Place Here" was printed under said feet. There was also some kind of weird antenna on the left side in the same shade of blue as the front.

The present box it had been in was lying on the two Indian rugs stacked on top of each other in front of the armchair, empty and forgotten... Did someone break in? Who breaks into a house to open a present and put a Tattletail in the dryer without taking anything? I gave a long, loud sigh and decided to just disregard it. Maybe make sure the doors were locked before I went to bed. I put the Tattletail on the stand, lightly pressing down to get it to secure the toy in place. It didn't, and that was when I realized that it wasn't plugged in. The toy let out a satisfied giggle as its voice returned to normal, regardless of the fact that the charging stand was nonfunctional. I leered at the charging stand, then its plug, then the Tattletail.

"You don't follow the laws of batteries, do you?"

"Hehehehehehehe!"

Siiiigh.

"Let's play a game!"

"Let's go back in our box!" I mimicked its childish voice. "Unless you decide to go mute for the night, there's nothing to do that won't get us both in trouble."

"Let's play a game!"

"Fine, we'll play a game. But I'm taking you somewhere you won't wake Mom up." I picked up the toy and brought it to a back room, then put it on top of one of those weird rocks all over the place after nudging a green vase with a tulip pattern out of the way.

"Tattletail says stomp your feet!"

"Simon Says, huh?" I shrugged and quietly stomped a few times with one foot.

"Tattletail says dance!" I didn't know how to dance, so I pretty much just ended up flailing my limbs. And then it laughed at me. Our little game went on for a while, and I eventually realized that I was actually enjoying myself. At one point, I had to open the yellow gift egg that I hadn't noticed until the Tattletail pointed it out. It was full of peanut shells. Filled to the brim. I was noticing a pattern here. I put it back on the old dryer I'd found it on.

"Tattletail says look up!"

"Sit down!" I was pretty good at not falling for these.

"Tattletail says look left and right!"

"Tattletail says open your mouth!"

"Pick up the flashlight!" I picked up the flashlight, upon which the vase fell down and shattered, and the lights flickered and went out, leaving both of us in suffocating darkness. Tattletail immediately began shaking. I fiddled with the flashlight for a bit, eventually shaking it, which was apparently how you got it to turn on, although some kind of weird diamond-shaped thingy kept a faint glow, even when the rest of the flashlight was dead. It took a few shakes for it to actually light up all the way, and the whole thing lit up with a bluish-white glow along with projecting the usual beam of light at full charge, which was honestly freaking weird. Oh, well. It kept a charge for all of thirty seconds, but it was a flashlight, at least, and it silenced Tattletail's shivering and yelling. I cradled Tattletail in my left arm so that I could use the flashlight with my right, then walked back into the main room, stopping when I saw two glowing, red dots in the corner.

My flashlight went out as soon as I pointed it at them. Just as quickly as I noticed them, they disappeared, and the lights came back on. That was... kind of terrifying. There was a yellow gift egg on top of a rock, where the dots had been. I set Tattletail and the flashlight down in the chair next to the charging stand and opened the egg. I found a single french fry. A very long french fry.  It looked alright, but God only knew where it had been, so I just picked up Tattletail and let it munch on the fry while I walked back to where the presents were. It finished the fry just as we got there, and I wasted no time putting Tattletail back in the box. "Back to bed..." I closed the box. "Mama scary!" And with that, it closed its eyes.

After putting both Tattletail and the charging stand back in their boxes, I picked up the flashlight and the three eggs I'd found and headed back to my room, turning off the lights in the basement as I went. When I neared my room, I stopped and stared at the front door. Someone was knocking on it... More like banging. I pressed my cheek against the window and tried my hardest to shine the flashlight and see who was there, but it didn't look like anyone was at the door. I stood there, conflicted, then put the eggs under my bed and the flashlight in front of the TV. I knocked on Mom's door. No response, even after a whole lot of knocking and a little bit of yelling. The door was locked, too, so I couldn't open it. I sighed, went back to my room, and tried and failed to go to sleep. I could still hear the banging, and it was keeping me up.

I took up the tedious task of inserting every single coin from the blue egg into my cat bank through the slot, one by one, instead of just dumping them in through the normally plugged hole on the bottom like I usually did whenever I got money, but the banging was just too loud and too creepy. So, I just lay in my bed and thought about what I'd done with Tattletail. Its vision must have been pretty advanced if it could see me well enough to properly judge my Simon Says skills and laugh at my horrible dancing, and what was with that "Mama scary" thing? I knew she had managed to get herself banned, but she was nothing more than a kind storyteller, so why would Tattletails think she was scary? When and where did it see her, anyway?

The banging went on for a solid hour, stopping around 1:30 in the morning. I fell asleep not long after that.


	3. Mama's Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Val has their first encounter with Mama Tattletail in which she tries to kill them. Baby Tattletail is vaguely helpful.

Weird noises in the basement at midnight. _Again._ Some kind of mechanical grinding sound. It sounded like a broken coffee maker or something. I grabbed my flashlight and walked out to investigate. There was a random light on again, but tonight, it was only the one above the stairs leading to the basement. Seeing as the grinding sound seemed to be coming from down there, I walked down and turned the light on in the main room, noticing a gift egg on the floor. I opened it, upon which a tuft of blonde doll hair fell out. There was another with a dead beetle inside, and another with a broken crayon, and another with... Ooh! The earring Mom lost the other day. I put it in my shirt pocket. She'd probably want that back. I put all the eggs in a nearby crib, quickly noticing yet another egg... And a Mama Tattletail.

I popped the final egg open, finding a bunch of fingernail clippings,  which I swiftly dumped onto the floor before putting it in the crib with the rest. Now to deal with this apparently broken Mama. She was a lot bigger than a normal Tattletail, but the ears were the same size, making them look small on her. Her head and body were separate, although like her smaller counterpart, she had no visibly defined neck. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping, but she was still very obviously the one emitting that unholy noise.

I walked up to Mama, and the grinding just... stopped. There was a red cassette tape in a broken miniature fridge next to her, which was wide open for some reason. I picked up the tape and flipped it over. "Mama's Stories: Volume 1" was written on a sticker in fancy handwriting. Mama had a cassette player on her stomach. I loaded the tape into it and pressed play. Her eyes snapped open, and her head started to spin, sometimes stopping for a split second before picking back up. Music started to play while Mama told a story over it. The pitch got kind of weird sometimes.

"The children thought that Mama would never find them as long as she couldn't see them." A sound effect played. "Turn the page!" There books to go with these stories, apparently. "But Mama could still hear the children. The pitter-patter of their little feet led Mama right to them." Another sound effect. "Turn the page! Then Mama found the children, every last one, and put them right back to bed." The music stopped, although Mama's head continued to spin. I would have stayed and listened to a few more, but I could hear Tattletail giggling upstairs. After a bit of fiddling with the buttons to get her head to stop spinning, I turned off the lights in the basement and left. The giggling was coming from the living room. I turned on the light in the kitchen to get a better look and...

"Oh my god." There was a huge mess in front of the couch, and Tattletail was standing on top of a toppled trash bin in the middle of it all.

"Show me Mama!"

"Weren't you saying she was scary last night?"

Another giggle.

"I'll show you Mama after I clean this up. Who even did this?" I started putting things back in their rightful locations, and as soon as I was done, it started chanting in that annoying way it did when it wanted something.

"Show me Mama! Show me Mama! Show me Mama!"

"If you keep chanting like that, I'm not showing you anyone." I picked it up with my free arm and took it down to the basement. I went back to the place where Mama had been, but she was gone. There was a gift egg in her place.

"Where's Mama?" Tattletail somehow sounded concerned.

"...Do I really look like I know?"

And then it yawned. "Me tired!" I put Tattletail down with the flashlight pointed at it so that I could open the gift egg. It was just full of ketchup. Not even packets, just a bunch of ketchup that splattered all over the floor when I opened it. I made a note to wash the egg out later and left it there, then turned around. Tattletail or the flashlight had rotated slightly so that the light wasn't pointed directly at its eyes. Either that, or I was an idiot. Probably the latter. I picked them both up again, Tattletail in my left arm and the flashlight in my right hand, and walked to the room my presents were in. I put it in its box and wrapped it back up in its present. "Mama's coming..." It said, in a singsong voice. Then, much more quiet than I'd ever heard it... "Be quiet!" It then let out the more typical snore.

Weird. But then again, everything about this toy was weird. I shook the flashlight and started walking back to my room after stopping to bundle the six eggs in the bottom of my striped pajama shirt, turning off lights as I went. When I passed Mom's door, my flashlight suddenly died with a sound more akin to a light bulb exploding than anything. The same red eyes from last night were right in front of the door. I tried to turn the flashlight back on and get a closer look, but it just got killed again. "Mama's looking after you..." That was the storyteller. That was definitely the storyteller. I suddenly understood exactly why Tattletail thought she was scary. I moved to knock on Mom's door, but then... I didn't want to drag her into this, too. She was a busy, overworked woman, and I was the one who messed with this thing in the first place.

I got lost in thought, and almost didn't notice the sudden disappearance of Mama's eyes. I took the opportunity to dash into my room and lock the door. I added the eggs to the growing hoard under my bed and put the earring on top of the book on my nightstand. Needless to say, I didn't feel very safe sleeping that night.


	4. Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Val learns that Tattletails can move and the neighbors' Tattletail is a turd. And if you know what to look for, you might learn something...

Noises woke me up again, but this time, I knew exactly what it was.

"Hee hee hee hee hee!"

"Playtime for me, big fun!"

"La-da-da-da-dee-don-duuun!"

"La-la-la-la-la-la! Lalalalaa la!"

"Wow..."

"Wow!"

"Me Tattletail, me love you!"

"Me hungry!"

I grabbed the flashlight and walked out of my room to find a bunch of lights on. The one in the living room, probably every light in the basement... "Why the..." And the back door was open, earning a moment of confused muttering from me. Tattletail was outside for some reason, so instead of standing there, I went out and quickly found _two_ Tattletails having a nice chat in the garage. There was also yet another light on in there. One Tattletail was my purple one, and there was also a yellow one that I'd never seen before. It was at that moment that they each swung a leg out and turned to face me in unison.

"Me Tattletail! And this is my friend, Tattletail!"

"...Huh. You can move."

"Let's play a game!" The purple one exclaimed.

"How about you-" I walked over picked up my Tattletail. "-go back in your box, and you-" I pointed down at the yellow one. "-go back to wherever the heck you came from." I started walking. And then Yellow started sobbing. There were no actual tears, but there were definitely sounds. "Two days. You just need to wait  _two days._ I'm not even your real owner!" I really didn't have time for this. I didn't two nights ago, and I didn't now.

"Waaaaah!"

"You made her cry..." Purple was calling me out now, and sounded like it (he? she? they?) was going to tattle on me or something (hee hee hee, _Ta_ _ttle_ tail).

"Oh my _god,_ fine." I put Purple next to Yellow again, causing them to both start chanting.

"Let's play a game! Let's play a game! Let's play a game!"

"Will you go home if I play a game with you?"

"Hide and seek!" That was Yellow. "No peeking..." And then the power went out. I heard that strange sound of glass shattering all around me. And then Yellow was just _gone._ I could hear the grinding from last night nearby, or at least something that sounded like it. I turned my flashlight on before Purple could start screaming their furry little butt off and sat in the corner of the garage with them on my lap, waiting for the lights to come back on and maybe for Mama to go somewhere else. She did not go somewhere else, and instead appeared in front of the garage in all her red-eyed unholiness, blocking the entrance.

"Go away, Mama!" Purple shouted. A _thud_ was heard, and the lights came back on, revealing a defeated Mama Tattletail lying on her side. I took her cassette tape out and hit the pause button for good measure, even though it probably did absolutely nothing.

"Mama's looking after you..." The grinding started up again after a half-hearted attempt by Mama to look up at me. I decided to just run away from that, pausing to turn off the light in the garage before going inside. I closed the door behind me. I could hear Yellow somewhere...

"Me hiding!" "Hee hee hee!" "Can't see meee..."

After roughly five seconds of exploring, I found Yellow hiding inside the Christmas tree like an unruly cat. It could have been a good hiding place if it weren't for the fact that she kept taunting me. I played dumb for a while, feeding and grooming Purple and having a quick chat on the couch.

"I know the other Tattletail's a girl, but what about you?"

"Hee hee hee hee hee!"

"I'm just gonna assume you're a boy, because you definitely act like one."

"Hee heheeheeheeheehee!"

"I'll take that as a yes."

And with that, I put Purple and the flashlight on the couch, parted the branches of the Christmas tree, and pulled out Yellow. "You found me!" I gave her a quick head scratch. "No peeking..."

"Again?" And before I could say anything else, the lights went out, and Yellow vanished right out of my hands. The next round was mostly the same, barring the seemingly longer hiding period. I found Yellow hiding in the closet in my room. The round after that was... _interesting._ Yellow immediately ratted me out to Mama, claiming that I was in the bedroom. I was out by then, so I guess she was actually helping me in a way, but I still (kind of) yelled at her for it when I found her in the basement. My attention was then drawn to the VHS tape next to her when she fell on it and started flailing her legs.

After placing Yellow upright and leaving Purple with her, I took the tape into my room, turning off some lights along the way, and popped it in the VHS player... Oh. This was weird. TATTLETAIL COMM PUBLIC was written in the top left corner, with 10.22.98 under it, both in green. On the bottom, CHANGE VIEW USING CAM BUTTONS was in blue, and on the right, there were a bunch of camera buttons. LOGO, BLINK, SIDE, FAMILY, EGGS, MAMA, DANCE, FRIENDS, PRODUCT, and STORAGE. The button on the very bottom read, PLAY>>.

As for what was actually on the screen, I couldn't really tell, because there was a bunch of static over everything, and it was also dark. I could see a Tattletail, a Mama, and a shelf with six gift eggs on it, but that was it. There was something in front of Mama, but I couldn't tell what it was. I started flipping through the cameras. They were all various shots seen in the Tattletail commercial, except for CAM9: STORAGE. I had no idea what that one was for. Just a bunch of boxes in a corner. With that out of the way, I pressed the play button and began scrambling to see what things actually were as the screen suddenly lit up, providing much more clarity, and the Tattletail commercial music started playing. It was always somehow a little jarring, even on television.

_Baby Talking Tattletail!_

_Touch and listen to him say,_

"Tattletail, that's me!" Tattletail had a few things to say.

_You can feed him treats,_

_He really eats!_

"Nyum nyum nyum nyum nyum nyum nyum nyuuuum!"

_He leaves a present that can't be beat!_

Yes, if by "present that can't be beat," one means "Easter egg full of dog food."

_Baby Talking Tattletail,_

_He can tell when Mama's there!_

"Mama's coming..." That was Mama.

_You can play pretend,_

_With all his friends,_

"Playtime for me!"

_It seems like the talking will never end!_

_Baby Talking Tattletaaaaail!_

Most of the camera name text changed from white to red as the commercial progressed, which was definitely strange. At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on, but then Mama disappeared from CAM5: MAMA, and I noticed what appeared to be a dead person in the background of PRODUCT, and the same person in STORAGE, apparently struggling. At one point, Mama randomly appeared next to them and just stared for a few seconds. When the tape ended, I looked at the screen for a little longer, wondering just what in the heck I'd witnessed, and sighed. Again. I walked back down to the basement to put Purple back in his box and maybe figure out what to do with Yellow, but they were both gone when I got there. A bit of investigation revealed that Purple had apparently gone back into the box on his own, and Yellow had presumably gone home. They at least had the decency to do that, I guess.


	5. The Ritual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where everything goes to heck.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

"Tattletail, no..."

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

I realized something and bolted up. Tattletail was in front of the TV, and my flashlight was propped against the drawers, pointing up at him and making him look spooky. "Wait, Tattletail!?"

"You're up! We're having a party for Mama. Come help us!"

"Didn't you yell at her last night? Why do you want to have a _party_ for her?"

"Hee hee hee!"

"I'm not helping you throw a party." I got out of bed and picked him up, and the flashlight, too, shaking up the latter. No random lights on tonight, which was good. I could hear Tattletails downstairs, though. I groaned. "How many friends did you invite?"

"Four!"

"You could have at least asked. I would have said no, because you're not even supposed to be out of your box until tomorrow and I bet your friends aren't, either, but _still._ "

"Hee hee hee hee hee!"

"I'm putting you back in your box."

The basement door in the kitchen was locked, so after feeding Tattletail, I tried the one in the front yard. It was unlocked, so I walked down, closing the door behind me. I entered the main room and... "Oh my god." The chair that had previously been in the middle of the room was now in a corner, and the end table took its place, with the charging stand on it again. There were two boxes to each side of the table, and chairs next to those, five spots in total. The yellow Tattletail from last night and a blue one I'd never seen before stood on top of the boxes, giggling away for no good reason. And, of course, the light was on. "You guys aren't gonna leave until I help you, are you?"

A chorus of giggles from all three. I sighed and put Purple on the charging stand. "More friends!" He shouted. And then the lights broke. I turned the flashlight back on and unlocked the door connecting the basement to the kitchen from the inside, but refrained from opening it. I could hear Mama behind the door, and I didn't particularly feel like finding out what she'd do to me if she caught me. As soon as the grinding stopped, I opened the door and quickly found a yellow Tattletail walking around in the living room. They weren't talking, but the motors led me to them.

As soon as they saw me, they said, "Brush me!" I picked the Tattletail up and started scratching the tuft on their head before they could start screaming. But then the Christmas lights went out. I heard grinding and saw Mama staring at me through the window. "Mama hates you!"

"I can see that," I hissed, walking back down to the basement. When I got to the stairs, Mama was suddenly a lot closer to me. I shut the door behind me and hurried down to where the other Tattletails were. I put the one in my hand on the chair next to the blue one.

"We need one more!" My next trip outside the basement was mostly the same, although I had to search a little more for the second blue Tattletail, because you don't usually expect to find an electronic toy munching on bugs and grass outside, and it doesn't matter if said toy moves around. Then, Purple wouldn't stop shouting until I picked him up, and we went on a few supply runs together, Mama out to get me all the while. I brought cupcakes down to the basement, as well as a box of backup Christmas lights as a compromise when I refused to pull the lights off the tree. Things got weird when I brought the candles and matches down.

The Tattletails were standing around a circle of Christmas lights with cupcakes in front of them, chanting, "No more Mama!" While I was putting the candles on top of the cupcakes (they wanted it like that for some reason) and putting my Tattletail on the red rug, I observed that it was not just a circle, but a pentagram, with the VHS tape from last night in the center. A Tattletail stood at each point of the star. It wasn't a party, it was a ritual to get rid of Mama! So, she was possessed, then. Always good to know. I lit the candles at Purple's request.

"Now, rewind the tape!" I picked up the tape and fiddled with it for a moment. I didn't really know what I was doing, but something got the tape to emit a sound I soon identified as the audio track for the commercial in reverse, seemingly by itself. It began to glow with a white light, tinted by the now-reddish ceiling light, and slowly floated out of my hands.

"Mama's coming... Mama will look after you! Mama's looking after you..." I could hear the sound of Mama going crazy all around us, partially drowned out by the dancing Tattletails and their calls of, "No more Mama!" It was more like swaying from side to side than actual dancing, but a dance was the closest thing to compare it to. The tape got stuck repeating the same moment of the commercial.

"Break it!" Purple shouted. I broke the tape. Mama jumped out at me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! This marks the conclusion of the first story arc. I bet you hate me for that cliffhanger.


End file.
